Gujarat High Court
L H Of Bava Meghnathi Bhimgar Hiragar vs State Of Gujarat on 10 October, 2025
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/FA/3575/2025 ORDER DATED: 10/10/2025
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 3575 of 2025
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L H OF BAVA MEGHNATHI BHIMGAR HIRAGAR & ORS.
Versus
STATE OF GUJARAT & ANR.
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Appearance:
MR. BHAUMIK DHOLARIYA(7009) for the Appellant(s) No. 1,1.1,1.2,1.3
MR RAHUL DAVE, AGP for the Defendant(s) No. 1,2
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DEVAN M. DESAI
Date : 10/10/2025
ORAL ORDER
1. The captioned First Appeal is filed by the appellants- heirs
of original claimants against the judgment and award dated
14.10.2024 passed by the learned Additional Senior Civil Judge,
Porbandar in LAR No.17 of 2019, wherein the learned Judge
had dismissed the reference case.
2. Heard learned advocate Mr. Bhaumik Dholariya for the
appellants-original claimant(s) and learned AGP Mr. Rahul
Dave for the respondent -State.
3. Brief facts of the present case are as under:-
3.1 The land of the appellants bearing Revenue Survey
No.42/2 situated at Village: Ishvariya Taluka & Dist.: Porbandar
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was acquired by the respondent - authority for a public purpose
of Vartu-2 Irrigation Scheme. The respondent-authority
awarded meager amount of compensation for acquired land.
Therefore, present appellant/s filed an application under Section
18 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 for enhancement of
compensation. After considering the evidence available on
record, learned Additional Senior Civil Judge dismissed the
reference cases as claimant/s remained absent and did not lead
any evidence.
3.2 Being aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned
judgment and order, appellants are before this Court.
4. Learned advocate for the appellant/s submitted that
Reference Case of the appellant/s came to be dismissed for non-
appearance of the appellant/s and their respective Advocate by
learned Additional Senior Civil Judge, Porbandar.
4.1 It is further submitted that the land of appellant/s as stated
hereinabove was acquired by the respondent - authority for a
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public purpose of Vartu- 2 Irrigation Scheme. The respondent -
authority awarded meager compensation for acquired land.
Reference case of the claimant/s was forwarded by competent
authority to the learned District Court, Jamnagar. Thereafter,
Reference case came to be transferred to Principal Senior Civil
Court, Khambhaliya in the year 2009, and in the year 2018, the
learned Principal Senior Civil Judge, Devbhumi Dwarka at
Khambhaliya returned the land reference case to the appellant/s
to be presented before the competent Court. Thereafter reference
case was filed before the learned Principal Senior Civil Judge,
Porbandar in the year 2019. Notices came to be issued to the
parties. Issues were framed on 05.10.2024.
4.2 Learned advocate for the appellant/s submitted that
claimants shall not claim any interest on the additional
compensation, if awarded, that is on date when issues came to
be framed i.e. 05.10.2024 in LAR Case, till today.
5. Per contra, learned AGP has opposed to the said request
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and contended that the claimant/s were given ample opportunity,
despite that claimant/s remained absent resultantly reference
case came to be dismissed. It appears from the impugned
judgment that the claimant did not lead any evidence, and the
reference case came to be dismissed for want of evidence. It is
further submitted that the claimants-appellant/s shall not be
entitled for any interest.
6. I have considered the submissions canvassed by learned
advocates for the respective parties and in view of the aforesaid
facts and circumstances, it would be in the interest of justice that
the impugned judgment and order dated 14.10.2024 passed by
the learned Additional Senior Civil Judge, Porbandar in LAR
No.17 of 2019 in captioned First Appeal, is hereby quashed set
aside. And reference case is remanded back to the Reference
Court for fresh adjudication on merits after giving due
opportunity of hearing to both the sides. The learned Reference
Court shall decide the matters on its own merits. The parties are
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directed to remain present before the learned Reference Court.
No fresh notice be issued to claimant/s. Both parties are
permitted to lead evidence in support of their cases. The learned
Reference Court shall decide the reference cases as
expeditiously as possible preferably within a period of three
months from the date of receipt of this order. Both parties shall
give full Corporation to the learned reference Court in
expeditious hearing.
7. Appellant/s-claimant/s shall not be entitled for any interest
from the date of framing of issue in LAR Case till the date of
passing of this order i.e. 10.10.2025.
8. In view of above, captioned First Appeal stands disposed
of accordingly.
9. Record and proceedings, if any, received, be sent back to
the concerned Court/Tribunal.
(D. M. DESAI,J)
RINKU MALI
